I Adjust My Behavior Accordingly
by Frannabelle
Summary: Post-The Parts in the Sum of the Whole; Rejection always breeds avoidance.


Brennan & Booth One-shot

**Summary**: Post-The Parts in the Sum of the Whole; Rejection always breeds avoidance.

**Disclaimer**: If I owned them, there would be much rejoicing. Alas...

I Adjust My Behavior Accordingly

It's difficult for him to look at her now in the same way that he used to before. He used to look at her with appreciation – an appreciation of her intelligence, her beauty, her strength, and stick-to-itiveness. But Booth can't do that anymore, he's not allowed, and that's what probably hurts the most. He thinks she'll think that by the look in his eyes that he'll still want a chance at something more than whatever this is they have, more than just a friendship. And, let's face it, she'd be right. He'd try even now, if there was even the slightest inkling, almost three weeks to the day she rejected him. But, Bones would never go for that. He should ask Hacker's cute little analyst on the third floor out – Veronica. She wears her blouse buttons opened just so, always smiles when he passes by, leans towards him, and asks how he's doing. He'd smiled and lied and said, "Not too shabby," the morning after Bones turned his proposal down. So now, it's all fake; how he acts when he's around Bones, how he feels about moving on, how interested he is in the current case. He almost told Sweets a few days ago exactly what went down after their meeting, but he knew the newly-engaged psychologist would only try to push him harder into approaching Brennan again. What is it with the married and the soon-to-be-married always trying to get the single-therefore-lonely to join their club? Booth's decided that the membership dues are just too costly. He can't look at her now, because he sees what he's lost.

Brennan has noticed that Booth doesn't look at her in the same way anymore. In fact, he barely looks at her at all, except when he thinks she isn't paying attention. But, she's always paying attention, looking at the details. It'll be three weeks tomorrow since he stopped looking at her. She finds he's annoying her. She has no real evidence, but she suspects that he's being cautious around her because he thinks she'll react negatively to his attention. She thinks that he thinks any show of affection or attention will be taken by her the wrong way, a romantic way; but really, all she wants is for things to be the way they were. Even Angela could tell that there was _something_ going on between them, but her best friend didn't press. That annoyed her, too. Brennan wanted to talk about this, get past it, _and_ keep moving forward. It was unproductive for them to be acting like everything was fine, when obviously Booth was still hurting. She understood his hurt, and she knew she was responsible for it. And really, she didn't want to bring the whole thing up again just to pull the scab off his wound; but ideally, she hoped it would clear the air. Brennan surmised, although not in her nature, that they could get back to where they were before if Booth would just realize that she's just not capable of giving him what he really needs. She can't promise to give him what she believes she doesn't possess. It's difficult to communicate with him when she can't see his eyes.

"You should invite her out to dinner."

"Who?"

"Miss Elder."

"Veronica? Really?"

"She's interested in you."

"How do you know?"

"Besides the way she adjusts her clothing and hair whenever she sees you approaching, her complexion brightens whenever you visit Andrew's office. It's the blood vessels under her facial skin. When excited, the blood – "

"Bones, I know how blushing works. I just…I don't…_know_ if I should get involved with someone at the office."

"Well, you said you wanted to move on. Anthropologically speaking, partners are more easily found in areas regularly frequented by the seeker – places of worship, local retail stores, and especially at the workplace. Although, the advent of technology has greatly increased the distance between – "

"Bones, let's just stick to the case, okay? Let's not talk about my romantic prospects."

"Of course. That's not really any of my business, is it? I will adjust my behavior accordingly."

Brennan slowed almost to a stop, but Booth continued to walk ahead, each step advancing towards the car and leaving her behind.

The End

**A/N**: Just a little something. Please review. **:)**


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